Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2012, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (3): 432-438.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(11)60336-7

• Research papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Synthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates by Polymerization of Methyl 3-Hydroxypropionate in the Catalysis of Lipase

SONG Hao1,2, ZHAO Yongjie1, ZHANG Yingxin1,2, KONG Weibao1,2, XIA Chungu1,*   

  1. 1State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis & Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China; 2Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2011-09-19 Revised:2011-11-07 Online:2012-03-15 Published:2015-07-27

Abstract: The polymerization of methyl 3-hydroxypropionate as monomer catalyzed by lipase was selected as a model system in this study. The monomer with the purity around 95% could be polymerized to polyhydroxyalkanoates in the catalysis of Novozym 435. Decreasing the reaction pressure would result in the increase of product yield and high molecular weight. By choosing appropriate organic solvents, surfactants and reaction pressure, the molecular weight of polyhydroxy propionate polyester could be controlled from 1800 to 13000 (Mw value). The reusing ability of enzymatic catalyst was comparatively good. The relative activity could be maintained above 95% after 6 repeated batches reaction.

Key words: polyhydroxyalkanoates, polymerization, enzyme catalysis, lipase, methyl 3-hydroxypropionate